Wilde’s Importance of Being Earnest gets a desi tarka
Adaptation titled The Importance of Being Earnest-Desi Tarka has several comic scenes and witty dialogues.
LAHORE:
The Fiery Easel in association with Rock Fire Productions on Friday staged an adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest before a packed Ali Auditorium.
The adaptation was titled The Importance of Being Earnest-Desi Tarka. It had several comic scenes and witty dialogues to entertain the audience.
The play was part English, part Urdu. The character names were also changed to local ones.
Rizwan Asif Takkhar, who made his debut as a director with the play, told The Express Tribune that The Importance of Being Earnest was very relevant to our society. He said that though the original play was set more than 100 years ago, Wilde’s depiction of Victorian upper classes could very well be a description of our times. He said through the adaptation his team had tried to highlight the society’s disorders.
The story revolves around Jehangir, a town resident, and his friend Aurangzeb, a city dweller. Jehangir makes frequent trips to the city to meet Zeba, who is Aurangzeb’s cousin, but tells everyone that he’s going to meet his (fictitious) brother, Abdul Ghani. Zeba tells him that she can only love a person named Abdul Ghani. Aurangzeb knows Jehangir’s secret. The climax of the play is the scene when Aurangzeb goes to Jehngir’s town and introduces himself to Noorie, Jehangir’s aunt, as Abdul Ghani. Coincidentally, Zeba also arrives in the town. Both Zeba and Noorie are confused.
There were some flaws in lighting technique but the stage design compensated for them. On several occasions, the actors delivering their dialogues were not highlighted.
The audience, however, enjoyed the play and a round of applause for the actors was quite frequent.
The play was conceived and performed by the students from SKANS. One out of the 20 cast members was from Beaconhouse National University (BNU). All of them students of accounting and economics, they said, they had a strong leaning towards theatre.
Ali Abbas Akhtar, the producer of the play, said that the team had worked very hard.
Akhtar said that he had earlier contacted the Lahore Arts Council for the play but they were turned down. He said he chose Ali Auditorium because its management was very professional.
He complained that commercial sponsors do not show interest in such plays. “It’s hard to find sponsors. Theatre must have proper sponsorships,” he said.
The script was written by Rabia Ashfaq and Sarah Ansari.
The roles of Jehangir and Aurangzeb were played by Hamad Rasheed and Hamoodur Rehman, respectively.
The play will be performed on Saturday and Sunday as well.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 16th, 2010.
The Fiery Easel in association with Rock Fire Productions on Friday staged an adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest before a packed Ali Auditorium.
The adaptation was titled The Importance of Being Earnest-Desi Tarka. It had several comic scenes and witty dialogues to entertain the audience.
The play was part English, part Urdu. The character names were also changed to local ones.
Rizwan Asif Takkhar, who made his debut as a director with the play, told The Express Tribune that The Importance of Being Earnest was very relevant to our society. He said that though the original play was set more than 100 years ago, Wilde’s depiction of Victorian upper classes could very well be a description of our times. He said through the adaptation his team had tried to highlight the society’s disorders.
The story revolves around Jehangir, a town resident, and his friend Aurangzeb, a city dweller. Jehangir makes frequent trips to the city to meet Zeba, who is Aurangzeb’s cousin, but tells everyone that he’s going to meet his (fictitious) brother, Abdul Ghani. Zeba tells him that she can only love a person named Abdul Ghani. Aurangzeb knows Jehangir’s secret. The climax of the play is the scene when Aurangzeb goes to Jehngir’s town and introduces himself to Noorie, Jehangir’s aunt, as Abdul Ghani. Coincidentally, Zeba also arrives in the town. Both Zeba and Noorie are confused.
There were some flaws in lighting technique but the stage design compensated for them. On several occasions, the actors delivering their dialogues were not highlighted.
The audience, however, enjoyed the play and a round of applause for the actors was quite frequent.
The play was conceived and performed by the students from SKANS. One out of the 20 cast members was from Beaconhouse National University (BNU). All of them students of accounting and economics, they said, they had a strong leaning towards theatre.
Ali Abbas Akhtar, the producer of the play, said that the team had worked very hard.
Akhtar said that he had earlier contacted the Lahore Arts Council for the play but they were turned down. He said he chose Ali Auditorium because its management was very professional.
He complained that commercial sponsors do not show interest in such plays. “It’s hard to find sponsors. Theatre must have proper sponsorships,” he said.
The script was written by Rabia Ashfaq and Sarah Ansari.
The roles of Jehangir and Aurangzeb were played by Hamad Rasheed and Hamoodur Rehman, respectively.
The play will be performed on Saturday and Sunday as well.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 16th, 2010.